by Mit ThakkarIn the landscape that we see today, it is important to understand the place where web applications are located. Web application development and web app performance testing go hand in hand to make the best digital platform that can be accessed very easily. People want to interact with digital platforms that are very interactive and responsive. Ideally, a digital platform like an app or web app should react within fractions of seconds. Therefore, the lookout for high-performance web apps is always there.
To make a web app highly successful, a web application development team has to focus on creating a strong testing methodology. For any kind of digital application or product created, testing to check its performance becomes paramount, or it will eventually fail to attract the right kind of audience. To get a picture of how important testing of web applications is, understand that around 79% of users, which is more than half, take note of the bugs they find in any app.
The reason that people prefer using web applications is that they are very high-speed and responsive. To ensure these advantages in a new web app, the team has to run web app performance testing cycles on the application. The use of web app testing tools and environment is necessary to give the web app a competitive advantage and make it perfect for the audience.
When a web app is thoroughly tested, it is ready to engage with the audience and be the best app for seamless use. To get high revenue from the web application, later on, a testing company needs to focus on getting the best web app performance testing tools in its suite. Only advanced testing tools can help test the web app to meet industrial standards.
From parameters such as user experience, seamless use, and ease of access, there are multiple aspects that testers have to check for. This testing process is extensive if the team does not use the right kind of web app performance testing tool. In the next sections of this blog, you will learn more about web app performance and how you can test for its parameters. The use of testing tools is something that every modern testing company has to update.
Why Does Web App Performance Matter for User Experience?
Web application testing services focus on tapping into parameters of user experience because, for the overall success of the web app, the reaction of users to the app becomes important. The users should be receptive to the web app, and for this, the web application has to be ready to meet the expectations and needs of the user base.
➯ Impact on User Retention
The user conversion rate for responsive websites and apps can go up to 400%. The importance of UX design impacts both user conversion and retention. If a web app is not responsive or takes time to load, people are more open to dropping off. People want the web app to respond as soon as they make a gesture or action. Initial lag might be okay, but if performance lags are persistent, users may abandon them. Therefore, if you want to retain users and grow the user base faster, then focus on responsiveness under web app performance testing.
➯ SEO and Search Rankings
The use of advanced web app performance testing tools is important because they help improve the SEO rankings of the web app on the internet. When a website or a web app is unresponsive, it is classified as slow, and so search engine crawlers index it very low in the rankings. Moreover, with the unresponsive framework, the web app does not get the best user traffic, so it is not the highest in the SEO ranks. The best web apps that people use and are high on the SEO lists are the ones that are very high performance.
➯ Overall Brand Perception
The need for web app performance testing is not only for the technicality of rankings and parameters but also to establish the owner company as a brand. The reputation of the web app development company goes up when the performance of the digital product is very high. To improve the overall brand perception, the team should ideally run performance tests now and again. After every update and modification of the web app, the web app should be tested with suitable testing tools.
Also Read : Turbocharge Your Tests: Performance Testing Best Practices
Key Factors in Web App Performance Testing Tools
Performance testing services use web app performance testing tools to check for the technical parameters of how a web app works. A web app needs to be loaded quickly and be open to the actions that a user plans to take with it. The time needed for the web app to load and how easily the solution scales up are all parameters that testing teams look at.
➯ Load Time
According to studies about website load time, the ideal time for loading the site is 0 to 2 seconds. If you extend this for web apps, the app should load within 2 to 3 seconds. In the best situation, there should not be any drop in the page load speed, and it should load as soon as the person tries to access it.
When the load time is high, and the web app takes a minute or two to be responsive, users become frustrated. This brings down the rating and reputation of the web app. The testing team should use a web app performance testing tool to find out about the load speed and time. With insights, the testers can help in improving the app loading speed.
➯ Responsiveness
Apart from loading quickly, the web app should be dynamic and quick to respond to. Because of the saturation of sites and brands that exist around us, it is easy for people to lose their attention and migrate to a different app on the same spectrum. This migration and loss of user base happens when the web app is not interactive and responsive to user queries.
➯ Scalability
When you aim to grow your brand with your web app, then scalability becomes an important aspect of the tests you run. A major area of running tests with a web app testing tool is to look for the range of scalability the web app has. A good web app is one that can handle multiple conditions and stress factors and still scale up to handle a large number of visitors and queries. As the traffic fluctuates, the web app should be highly scalable. The web app performance testing tools should analyze the performance of the web app across multiple scales and improve it with changes.
➯ Error Rates and Stability
Stress and endurance testing is a non-negotiable aspect of performance tests that run on web apps. Any kind of app will tend to fail and have errors sometimes. However, the ideal scenario is when the web app functions smoothly, and there are zero to minimal errors. To minimize the errors and make a stable web app, the web app testing team has to design various test cases that check its stability and the bugs latent in it. For this, the testers also emphasize security testing.
Different Types of Web App Performance Testing Tools
To ensure that a web app is well tested and ready to be launched, the team testing has to adhere to the best practices of performance testing. To maintain a uniform and efficient testing environment, it is important to use the best web app testing tools. To run a range of performance tests on the web app, you need the help of multiple testing tools.
➯ Load Testing Tools
Load testing tools are ones that create scenarios where the web app receives a lot of user requests and goes through multiple loads. The tools mimic real conditions so that the web app is ready to handle different loads in reality.
➯ Stress Testing Tools
Stress testing tools create an environment of artificial stress with the help of factors like fluctuating network strength, high user requests, and longer usage time to check how the web app behaves under stress. The stress testing tools check for the endurance of the web app so it can ensure that the app can maintain its performance under differing environments. Stress tests are run to see how far the web app can handle stress and the areas that need improvement.
➯ Front-End Performance Tools
The UX design and the front-end framework of the web app are important to look at when running performance tests. The front-end framework is the element through which the client experiences the web app functions. Therefore, front-end performance tools are also a major part of the web app performance testing suite. The front-end performance testing tools check for the visual response, JSS script loading, and HTML elements on the web app. The front-end testing tools also observe if the web app loads seamlessly on different browsers and functions smoothly.
➯ Backend Performance Tools
Backend performance tools for web apps are the ones that observe the trends of server performance and database integrations. These tools test for weak links in the back-end skeleton to ensure that the back end fully supports the performance levels expected from the web app. Such tools also focus on analyzing the efficiency level of API calls that the app can fulfill.
➯ End-to-End Testing Tools
Once specific tools have been tested and analyzed for the web app’s performance levels, the testing team will also design overall test cases using end-to-end testing tools. The teams that have limited resources also prefer using end-to-end testing frameworks like Testim and Katalon Studio to see how the app performs. The end-to-end tests minutely analyze the web app performance to identify the gaps and bottlenecks that need immediate resolution.
Top 7 Web App Performance Testing Tools to Boost Application Speed
In this section, you will get a low down on the best 7 web app performance testing tools that can help create detailed test reports. With the analytical insights that these tools create, the testing team can improve the overall performance of the web app.
1. Apache JMeter
Apache JMeter is a web app performance testing tool that mainly focuses on load testing cycles. It is an open-source tool that you can also use remotely to run load tests.
➯ Key Features: The Apache JMeter tool supports various web protocols so that load tests can run under different conditions. The tool also has an intuitive GUI that can design test cases very quickly and reduce the burden on testers. It is also very advantageous because it runs with the CI/CD pipeline.
➯ Best For: The tool is best for running high-scale load tests across multiple protocols and is good for web app performance testing.
2. BlazeMeter
BlazeMeter is also a highly popular and resourceful web app performance testing tool. It is a cloud-based platform on which performance tests can be run. It is a versatile tool that is best for mobile and web app testing. It can also be customized for API testing.
➯ Key Features: The BlazeMeter tool is very compatible with other testing tools like JMeter. With the help of this tool, the company can create an environment of integrated testing tools for performance tracking. It has the benefit of real-time analysis and reports from the web app framework.
➯ Best For: The tool is best for carrying out cloud-based load testing and scalability testing. It is adaptable to testing projects of different scales.
3. LoadUI Pro
The Load UI Pro tool is meant to run API load tests in a cloud-based manner. It is a tool that ensures the reliability and scalability of the APIs integrated into the web app. Through precise API testing, the testing tool ensures that the web app has enhanced performance.
➯ Key Features: Load UI Pro tool is a user-friendly tool with a simple approach to web app testing. It supports API, SOAP, and other interface testing to ensure that the integrations into the web app are working properly.
➯ Best For: The Load UI Pro tool is best for API testing and running tests on web apps that heavily depend on APIs for their functionalities.
4. New Relic
New Relic is a tool that is best known for its application monitoring capabilities. It is a tool that you can use to run real-time application monitoring algorithms and track the performance of the app in real conditions.
➯ Key Features: The New Relic APM tool runs in real-time to check for the stability of the web app infrastructure and server performance. It also has the feature of distributed tracing so testers can quickly find out bottlenecks existing in the framework.
➯ Best For: The tool is best for outlining the performance of the applications and servers in real-time.
5. LoadNinja
The LoadNinja tool is a load-testing tool that efficiently runs on the cloud and can be very useful for scalable web application testing. It is a tool that testers use to design various load tests for web app frameworks.
➯ Key Features: The tool is best known for its no-code test design process and easy record-and-play option for test results. The tool automates the load tests to a great extent and also keeps track of the tests so the testers can draw insights from the executed tests.
➯ Best For: If you want to design various load tests quickly and execute them efficiently, then use the LoadNinja tool.
6. NeoLoad
NeoLoad is a tool that is best for performance testing cycles run on web applications. It can run complex load and scalability tests to validate the performance of a web app.
➯ Key Features: The NeoLoad tool is designed to support integration with a continuous development pipeline. It is a rapid testing tool that also offers real-time analytics and testing insights. The tool also makes it possible to run simulated scalability tests with a high volume of user queries.
➯ Best For: The tool is best for your testing team if it already works with a CI/CD approach or is integrated with DevOps.
7. LoadRunner
If you are looking for a load testing and performance testing tool that can be scaled to the enterprise level, then LoadRunner is the best choice on this list. It is a tool that can work with various protocols and can smoothly operate under differing test conditions.
➯ Key Features: The LoadRunner tool has an extensive and detailed reporting technique that gives you actionable insights. It is a tool that you can use in real-time to finish performance testing quickly. It has a high simulation capacity to design highly specific test scenarios.
➯ Best For: The testing tool is best for running performance tests on large-scale web apps.
Also Read : How To Choose the Right Web App Testing Service for Your Company?
Key Metrics to Track for Performance Optimization
➯ First Contentful Paint (FCP)
The FCP is a parameter that shows how much time it takes for the user to access the first visible element on the web app page. It is a crucial parameter for user experience and connects media to user engagement.
➯ Time to Interactive (TTI)
The TTI of a web app should ideally be low as it should be interactive in very little time. For the TTI to be low, the script, elements, and resources supporting the web app should load very quickly and prepare the screen for interaction. A faster TTI shows that the web app is highly usable.
➯ Response Time
Response time is the time taken by the server of the web app to respond to the incoming user request for committing an action. The response time is usually low, as it should be a few milliseconds. If the response time is low in number and quick, then it shows that the web app is not lagging and runs efficiently.
➯ Error Rates
The error rate is nothing but the rate or percentage of performance errors that users run into when they are using the app. The app should not have a high error rate as it shows that the code is faulty and the web app is dysfunctional. The testing and development team should work to reduce and minimize the error rates.
➯ Throughput
The web app performance throughput is a crucial number as it refers to the number of requests and user queries the web app can handle per second. The high throughput shows that the web app is very high-performance and can handle incoming requests from multiple sources while handling a high volume of traffic to the portal.
Tips for Using Performance Testing Tools Effectively
Once the web app is ready for testing, it is important to choose the right set of web app performance testing tools. You also need to use tips for selecting a reliable web app testing service that can make the test cycles easier and faster. Here are some best practices for web app performance testing that experienced testers adhere to.
➯ Run Regular Tests
A major practice that modern testers adhere to is the integration they have of the performance testing cycles with the web app development process. When the performance tests run parallel to the development process on a regular basis, the results are more concurrent and impactful.
➯ Simulate Real-World Scenarios
To get optimal and highly specific results, it is important to understand the real-life scenarios under which the web app will run. The testing team, therefore, chooses web app performance testing tools that can create diverse test case designs and mimic differing conditions. The load test scenarios and scalability should be checked by tools that are cross-platform and cross-browser in nature.
➯ Set Baseline Metrics and Goals
Before the web app testing team starts to design and run the test cases for performance tracking, it is important to discuss the project’s scope of functions and then set the baseline metrics and app function goals on which the test cases will be designed. The testing team needs to set the testing parameters and industrial benchmarks so that the test coverage is to its maximum extent.
➯ Monitor Performance Over Time
The web app testing team should run performance tests with cloud-based and real-time monitoring tools so that the actual level of web app performance is visible. The web app testing team has to focus on running load, scalability, and responsiveness tests periodically so that it can get actionable insights to maintain the performance of the web app.
From Slow to Swift: Optimize Your Web App with Performance Testing Today!
Following up on a web app development project with a robust testing phase can make or break the destiny of the app product. Just like websites and apps, you should use dedicated tools to test out the web apps before launching the product in the market. To choose the best web app testing tools, you should hire an established web application testing company. You can discuss the expectations of the project and figure out which tools work best for the way ahead.
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